The Next Chapter in Story Development

Dramatica: A Theory of Story

The entire 350 page book available online. Free.

Introduction

1. Dramatica and the Creative Writer

A Place to Start
Mastering the craft of writing requires a skill in communication and a flair for style. Through communication, an audience receives meaning. Through style, an author achieves impact....
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The Elements of Structure

2. Foundations

Foundations: Central Concepts
In Dramatica, there are some central concepts that prove immediately useful. Presenting these up front reveals the practical side of the theory and provides a firm...
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3. Characters

Hero Is a Four Letter Word
It is easy to think of the principal character in a story as “the hero.” Many beginning writers tend to base their stories on the adventures or experiences of...
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4. Theme

What Exactly Is Theme?It seems every author is aware of theme, but try to find one who can define it! Most will tell you theme has something to do with the mood or feel of a story. But how does that...
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5. Plot

Plot vs. Storyweaving
A common mistake made when considering plot is to assume that plot refers to the sequence of events in a finished story. A more accurate view considers the difference between...
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6. Genre

Building Genres
Previously, we have seen that the characteristics, which build the Overall Story Characters, reside at the Element level of the Thematic Structure. Theme itself emanates most...
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The Art of Storytelling

7. The Art of Storytelling

Foundations
Introduction to Storytelling
All complete stories show evidence of two principal facets: An underlying dramatic structure contains the story’s inherent meaning, and a secondary...
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8. Storyforming

Introduction to Storyforming
Inspiration
When an author begins work on a story, he seldom has the whole thing figured out in advance. In fact, he might start with nothing more than a bit of action,...
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9. Storyencoding

Introduction To Storyencoding
Storyencoding is simply the process of turning the raw story points of a storyform structure into the flesh and blood people, places, and events of a story that can be...
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10. Storyweaving

Introduction To Storyweaving
Of the Four Stages of Communication, Storyweaving is most like what authors usually think of as the writing process. It is here that we gather everything we know about...
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11. Story Reception

Story Reception
About the Audience
What do you have in mind?
Few authors write stories without at least considering what it will be like to read the story or see it onstage or screen. As soon as...
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Theory Book

You're reading the Table of Contents for the official Dramatica: Theory of Story book. Divided into two major sections, The Elements of Structure and The Art of Storytelling, the book outlines a theoretical concept of story unlike any other.